Improvement in reefing- and furling- sails



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FREDERICK B. DUNTON, OF CENTRE LINCOLNVEILLE, MAINE. Letters Patent No. 83,940, dated November 10, 18 68.

IMPROVEIVIBNT IN KEEPING- ANID FUELING SAILS.

tre Lincolnville, in the county of Waldo, and State of Maine, have invented new and useful Improvements in Operating the Sails of Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use thesame, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

The drawing represents a front elevation of a sail, and its accessory reefing and furling-gear, constructed according to my invention.

The object of this invention is to provide a sail, or sails, of a square-rigged vessel, so called, with devices, by means of which the said sail or sails may be set, reefed, or furled in a quick and thorough manner from the deck, thereby lessening the labor of handling the sails, and dispensing with a portion of the attendants requisite for handling sails as ordinarily made andrigged.

In the accompanying drawing, A is a topsail or topgallant sail provided with my improved gear.

B is the upper yard, and O, the lower yard, to which the sail is attached by means of rings or hanks, a a a, 860., b b b, 850., which slide freely on jack-stays d and 6, respectively, the said jack-stays being affixed to the yards by means of eye-bolts f g h, f g h, as shown, thus leaving room between the jack-stays and the yards for the rings to slip freely on the former as the sail is operated.

The sail is set or hauled out by means of the sheets or ropes i i i i, attached to the corner-rings or olewirons of the sail, and rove through holes or sheave-mortises in the ends of the yards, as shown.

These ropes are brought down through a ring or leading-truck, or trucks, in the mast, or other convenient place, so as to bring the four ropes together at some conveniently-accessible point for hauling from the deck of the vessel;

I The sail is hauled into the mast, or clewed up, so called, for furling, by means of b'rails, shown in green color, and clew-lines, shown in blue color.

The brails pass in front of the'sail, and. the middle points of the parts in fiont of the sail being sewed or otherwise affixed to the middle cloth'of the sail.

The brails pass loosely through cringles or thimbles j in the leach, and thence back to the rear of the middle cloth of the sail, where they are roye through leading-eyes, or thimbles, formed on or' afiixed to a brailing-rod, shown dotted.

This brailing-rodis attached to the yards at the slings, so called, or middle points of the same, by any suitable swivel-j oint which will permit the canting, pointing, or cockbilling of the yards, without twisting or disarranging the said rod.

The sail is reefed by narrowing it horizontally, that is to say, by drawing into a close fold, in front of the mast, several of the middle cloths, through the agency of proper reefing-brails, which latter are shown in red color.

The hauling-parts of these reefing-brails are brought together at k, and extend up perpendicularly behind the sail, as shown by the dotted'lines.

To these hauling-parts are attached the horizontal reefing-loops 1, shown dotted also in rear of the sail.

These loops run freely through metal eyelets, or thinlbles, in the sail, and attached to the sail; that is to say,

that part of each loop in front of the sail passes through eyelets, m n, in the sail, and returns to an eyelet, 0, shown dotted, attached to the eyelet m, in rear of the. sail.

The ends of each loop are then joined to the vertical or hauliug-partsof the reefing-brails.

The hauling-parts of the reeling, furling, and setting or spreading-gear, may be kept separate, and hauled singly, or each of the hauling-parts of the difierent gears may be brought together and united, so that the sail may be spread, reefed, or clewed up entirely, by hauling on any one bunch of hauling-parts.

The hauling-parts of the furling-brails, shown in green color, lead from the eyes in the brailing-rod, down through leading-trucks on the mast, in rear of the sail, as shown by the dotted green lines.

Having thus described my invention, I \Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the setting-ropes t, the centre recfing-brails, having reeling-loops, Z, and passing through the eyelets m n 0, the swivelled brailing-rod, and the outer furling-brails passing through the eyelets j, with reference to the sail A, yards B O, and jaclestays d e, the hauling-parts of each gear being united in sets, and arranged upon different sides of the mast, whereby the sail may be spread, furled, or reefed by hauling on any one set, as herein shown and described.

The above specification of my invention signed by James 0. Po'r'rnn. 

